


Last Regret

by Susana Rosa (SusanaR), SusanaR



Series: Alternative Universes to the Desperate Hours AU [2]
Category: Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe, Faramir and Arwen friendship, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Male-Female Friendship, Survivor Guilt, Survivors, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 11:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SusanaR/pseuds/Susana%20Rosa, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SusanaR/pseuds/SusanaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the survivors, the "end of all things" was just the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Regret

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This wasn't how I expected this ficlet to go. Arwen is like that, sometimes.

"I never wanted it to be this way." 

Arwen lifted her her left hand and laid it over Faramir's only hand. King Faramir, now, Valar bless him. Poor man. In truth, Emperor Faramir, though that title he would not claim. She did not blame him. She'd told him that a thousand times, but perhaps he still did not believe. 'Very well,' Arwen thought to herself, 'A thousand and one, then.' 

"I know that you didn't, Fara-nin." She assured him. "I know that ruling was always your nightmare, and not your dream." 

He managed a nod in thanks for her kindness and squeezed her hand, before turning back to look again at the bustling of the stone masons and the carpenters, and the green pines and glimmering blue sea of Eryn Vorn beyond. "Minas Estel will have a gate before winter." He commented quietly, running his hand through his white-streaked red-gold hair. 

"They have worked marvels." Arwen agreed softly, closing her eyes and wishing that her father and her brother, and most of all, her love, could be here to see it. But Aragorn, Elladan, and Elrohir had all died over half a century ago, at the Black Gate after the Ringbearer failed. Their heads, and his, had been mounted on spikes above the walls of captured Minas Tirith. Elrond had died a mere seven years ago, the last of the elven rulers to fall. Each had, one after the other, made their realms a trap of time. Thranduil had bought them a quarter century. Galadriel, almost another. Elrond had lasted only five years, but they were five of the most important. Sauron had been at Imladris, when they stole the Ring from him. He had still been at Imladris, believing the foul thing in Elrond's custody, when it was thrown into Mount Doom. 

"I think," said Faramir with quiet, cynical humor, "That the Dark Lord's last regret was not pulling Mount Doom down and into the sea." 

Arwen managed a laugh, and was surprised that it sounded only harsh, and no longer bitter. "Hubris." She said, "It will get the megalomanical tyrant every time." 

Faramir smiled back, perhaps noting the same thing. It was one of the first times he had smiled, since Eowyn's death. And Arwen did not regret her decision to stay when the others sailed, and try to make sure that it was not the last.


End file.
